Stronger Bonds
by Classlose
Summary: In exchange for support, the paladins go through an alien ritual that strengthens the bonds between warriors. It seems it did more than just that.


_Fluff... and non fluff... there might be a plot forming..._

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Lance lifted a brow at Allura and Coran as he was offered a bowl of red liquid from the chief of an indigenous tribe of some mud ball of a planet the castle of lions scanned to have minerals on it. Certain minerals that could be synthesized into metal that could be used to repair systems of the castle ship. Ship castle...? The same bowl had been passed around to Shiro, Keith, and Hunk who each drank a sample of it with severely different reactions to the taste. Keith thought it was too disgustingly sweet, Hunk nearly wretched when the bitterness hit his tongue, but Shiro did not seem to have a problem with his sip at all though he could comment on tasting a bit of spice. Guess a year in Galra hell makes your taste buds go numb.

However, each reaction gave Lance some doubts and the indigenous species of the planet, blue... what ever they are... and Chief whatshisface was eagerly urging him to drink quickly in their language, which Coran could only vaguely understand after ten thousand years of evolution in linguistics. According to him, all Lance had to do was be the last to drink from the bowl and they'd get their minerals. This was partly how they ended up sitting around a large fire pit that night with dancing blue rat people cheering the blue pilot on to chug the contents of the bowl.

"Why can't you guys participate again..?" Lance held the bowl with a disgruntled gaze towards Allura, Coran, and Pidge.

"It's simple! You four were the ones who were chosen out of the 'lion warriors' who _look_ like warriors... They're a pretty visually biased people." Coran stroked one end of his mustache as he talked in his boasting tone. "And after seeing your builds, they're pretty convinced you deserve this ritual... or is it a ceremony..?" Coran dissolved into a mumbling as he tried to figure out if he translated right.

"Which doesn't mean we think any less or more of any of you." Allura quickly piped up as her hand gently found a place on Pidge's shoulder. "To me, you all are heroes no matter your masculinity or size."

"Thanks..." Pidge dead panned as it was obvious the princess was trying to make her feel better about not being part of this little ritual, however she was pretty glad she wasn't part of it as it had upset even Keith's stomach and the red pilot seemed to have a constitution of steel as much as Shiro... The liquid seemed to taste different to everyone but it all seemed bad in one way or another.

"Grruuuh!" A guttural cry from the Chief, blue speckled... little... but very masculine and robust rat looking thing like all the others on the planet, that prompted Lance's attention back to the fiery celebration. Lions from ancient child stories have returned and warriors of great prowess have graced them with their presence. Now they expected reciprocation of their customs.

"Lance you have to drink... We really need the ore and their support, and the tribes-people are getting anxious." Allura clasped her hands together, knowing the pose and the 'beg' would get the egotistical pilot to do just about almost anything. But Lance was still giving her the suspicious eye, but then again how could he refuse such a cute princess face? They were here to include these people in the Voltron Alliance and trade for supplies and precious minerals, there was no way he could let her down. The blue paladin changed his expression to a saucy wink.

"For you princess, _anything~_." And to out do Keith who could barely stand the drink, of course he felt himself to have a heartier constitution than the red paladin. He raised the edge to his lips and he proceeded to down the entire bowl much to her surprise and to the delight of the blue Chief of the tribe who hooted and hollered with joy. The only reason Lance was able to keep his composure was that the red liquid for him did not taste all that terrible at all. In fact it tasted like soothing warm milk, reminding him of when he was young had been upset at night from a bad dream. His mama would give him something special to help him sleep, warm leche, her pleasant kiss on his forehead, and delicate hands tucking him into the covers... His face was blank as the empty bowl slowly fell from his hands, the flashback clouding his vision. A flush of red swam to his cheeks as he stared with a half lidded, eyes dilated, gaze off into the distance as his body swayed slightly.

"Lance...?" Hunk with a worried expression rushed over to Lance to make sure he was alright. He waved a hand in front of his teammate's face. "Uh... You okay buddy?" He waved his hand even faster in front of Lance's eyes, then grasped the blue pilot's shoulders and shook him back and forth.

"So... good..." Lance managed to drool out as the effects hit him; his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he toppled backwards from where he sat, being held up by Hunk, groaning. "So... worth it..~" His entire body felt numb as he let his body go limp. He tried to move his arm but found that he couldn't feel his limbs, a discovery that would normally make him freak out but at the moment he was too wrapped up in heavenly pleasure to even care. He felt a tingling sensation though start at his rib cage and travel to his lower abdomen. It still felt so warm and pleasant, his face as still red with blush, he didn't want this euphoric experience to end, "Can't move... So... good~"

"I think he's dead everyone!" Hunk announced his verdict when Lance fell backwards. "Or... turned on? Or very... high. I'm gonna to go with the last one."

"Whooo~" Lance could swear he was seeing blue little lions in his vision dancing about the stars.

Hunk looked up to the others, "Yeah, definitely doped up."

Allura looked extremely perturbed along with Coran, "Oh dear. Well, a bit of sleep in the cryo pods should clear that right up."

Pidge snorted through her nose, holding back a laugh as she pointed at him, "I can't believe he drank the whole thing!"

Folding his arms, Shiro sighed pinching his brow with his metal hand. It was rare they could get through an encounter with anyone or anything without Lance being a dork in some shape or form. "Great... someone get him inside the castle. No telling how long he'll be out of commission."

Hunk wrapped his best friend's arm around his neck and hauled Lance to his feet, "Okay buddy, time to say bye bye."

" _Bye bye~_!" Lance waved in his goofy daze, barely able to get his hand working so his wave was pretty much a flopping of his arm.

The locals seemed to react with chattering of their teeth, and continued to celebrate as though short circuiting visiting aliens was part of their customs.

"Next time don't drink a whole bowl of alien juice, show off..." Keith commented roughly as Hunk dragged Lance past him.

"Id do it 'gain." Lance grinned like a fool with drool coming out of his mouth as he was being led baby step by baby step towards the ship. "Hunk? Are we... goin' on a trip...~?"

"I'd say you're already on one." Hunk murmured to him as he helped his best friend up the ramp of the ship.

With Lance taken away, Keith looked to Shiro and the Alteans, "Besides the accidental overdose, what was the purpose of all this anyways? I understand we need the minerals, but why did they need us to drink that though?"

"These people have been living away from Galra control, like the Arusians, while still in Galra space. Galra ships have phased out using this kind of mineral and left this planet alone believing it to be uninhabited. Unfortunately, the Castle of Lions still has parts that need it and these people are the only ones who can mine it safely. No ship has been here in years and if we want their trust we need to show them that we accept them as they are... where the Galra would just take and destroy these peaceful people." Allura started to explain by going back to the beginning as though Kieth didn't already know.

"Yes!" Coran started to continue for her. "From what I can gather is that this custom is supposed to be a ' _ritual_ ' of strength. The chosen warriors drink the juice and ultimately they lend their strength to each other."

"You can barely translate their _names_." Pidge blinked with a dead panned voice, as she adjusted her glasses, all the more convinced she was better off left out of the ceremony. "I highly doubt its that deep."

"Well... I still figure you lot could use the extra bonding! It.." he started counting on his fingers. "It kills three birds with one stone! We get the materials for the ship, a supplier for life, AND an extra boost of brotherly bonding energy!" the red head seemed way over enthusiastic with his fists in the air while Kieth and Shiro did not seem too convinced on that last part.

Again, Allura's voice piped up in a higher pitch, "That's not to say they're more important than the _rest of us_ , we're all a team!" she again placed her hand on Pidge's shoulder much to the annoyance of the green pilot.

"Its getting pretty late, I'm going inside." Pidge gently pulled away from Allura's grasp. She knew the princess was trying to be polite and include her but the effort was starting to annoy her. She really was fine about not being included in the 'bonding' ritual, but the more it was pushed into her face how unequal it was the more uncomfortable it made her. She stomped with a purpose towards the castle ship.

"Hey! Wait up!" Keith's voice caught her attention as well as his footsteps coming up right beside her. "Pidge, you alright?"

"I'm fine..." Pidge answered as she slowed down her pace for him to walk with her. "Just needed to get away from all that. I already know I'm part of the team." she smiled softly. "And its just a silly ceremony."

"How about when we get back, you, me, Shiro, Hunk and the doped up wonder boy 'bond' over one big bowl of goop. It'd be kind of like that ceremony... except it'd definitely be more edible." Keith offered to her.

Pidge blinked at him, normally Keith was the silent and brooding type and she would have expected Shiro to come after her. She started to softly chuckle and then let out a long line of laughter much to Keith's confusion.

The red paladin frowned, "Hey! I'm trying!"

"I know." Pidge wiped her eyes as they had teared up when she was laughing. "I just really needed that and I never expected it to come from you. Thank you." She smiled at him. "And some time with you guys sounds great."

Keith placed his hand on her head in that brotherly way. They were already at the castle ship, the ramp lowered and everything. They decided to stop by the cryo pods first to see how Hunk and Lance were doing... Or rather make fun of Lance and watch Hunk try to get him into one of the pods.

Lance was doing his best to grip the indents on the floor while Hunk had him by the feet with the intent to get him into the pod, "I don't wanna! Please please! Pidge help! He's gone power crazy!"

"You still cant even walk!" Hunk shouted back at him.

"You need to get in." Keith spoke up, annoyed. "We can't have a drugged up, handicapped, paladin. What if the Galra attack?"

"Galra galra galra, obsessed much?! I don't need feet to pilot Blue." Lance affirmed in a pout, still slurring some. "I'm not goin' in that pod! I have rights!"

"I'm with Keith on this one." Pidge pried up Lance's fingers from the floor one by one like a little evil genius getting rid of the main character.

"No no no! I feel fine! Traitor!" Lance screeched as when his hands became free did his body practically fly backwards and and stumble into the pod with Hunk caught up in the inertia of the motion since he had Lance by the ankles before.

However, now the two of them were in the pod space together, Lance pressed to Hunk's torso from the lack of room, "You aren't going to stay here with me are you?" Lance kinda had a hopeful look in his eyes as he looked to him.

"Uh..." The husky man suddenly felt a little awkward, trying to shimmy out of the spot. "No cause its time for you to go sleep." He held Lance upright.

"I don't wanna sleep... I wanna feel like this forever." Lance wrapped his arms around Hunk. "You have no idea. It feels so awesome like home cooking and amazing sex."

"Um... Are you sure we drank the same drink?" Hunk's face grew red and flustered as the blue paladin talked about food and sex in the same sentence.

He looked towards Pidge and Kieth, "Guys?" Reaching out for help but Kieth stood there with his arms folded and a soft smirk on his face seeing Lance make a fool of himself, its not like Hunk isn't strong enough to handle the skinny cadet. While Pidge, shaking her head "Nope" at him, was completely content in letting them suffer for the sake of this entertainment that was intoxicated Lance.

"We need to get more of that stuff, instead of the nectar of the... of the... of the thingies." Lance went on, still wrapped around Hunk, stomach to stomach, chest to chest.

Looks like it was just himself. Shifting in the small pod space, Hunk tried prying off Lance's arms, "Maybe we will, but right now you really need to sleep this off." Their closeness was getting very hot, Hunk found himself starting to sweat.

Lance began to struggle again, practically wrestling to get out of the pod, "Hunk, nooo, I'm not gonna sleep it off!"

Red flushed the yellow paladin's face as his teammate squirmed about him, "P-Please don't do that..." he too was trying to get out while making the effort to keep Lance from escaping, but the way he was squirming was making him flustered up again.

"Do what?" Lance wriggled and thrashed about trying to beat Hunk out of the pod to freedom reaching out towards Keith and Pidge for help.

"Lance!" Grasping the blue paladin by the shoulders, Hunk tried pulling him away. However, the both of them tripped and Hunk ended up sprawled over Lance on the floor of the stasis pod with his lips pressed to his teammate's own. There was a light tingling warmth along Hunk's lips as he stared stunned at Lance, his face slowly turning to horror at what just occurred.

"Hunk...?" Lance's eyes were wide and his lips parted in surprise... but none more panicked than Hunk who scrambled off of him and out of the pod, slamming at the controls quicker than anyone could say-

"Holy crow..." Keith covered his mouth as snickers escaped him.

Hunk sunk down with relief, "Finally." while wiping his brow of sweat. "He just would not go down!" He stared at Lance, asleep in the stasis pod.

"Are we not going to talk about what _just_ happened?" Pidge stared awestruck.

"No." Hunk replied firmly. He definitely did not want to address the fact that he kissed his best friend.

Suddenly there was a voice over the castle communications system, "Is there anyone who can lend us a hand in loading these raw materials? The locals were so impressed with Lance's... display... that they doubled what they had promised!" Allura sounded excited.

"Guess the idiot did something right." Keith smirked as he turned to go to the loading bay with a dash.

Hunk got up slowly and followed with Pidge not too far behind. The yellow paladin's mind was swimming, specially filled with thoughts of with how mad Lance was going to be when he woke up.

No sooner had the room emptied, save for the paladin in stasis, the active cryo-pod began to beep with different monitoring signals, some of which were various tones. The glass started to grow a little darker...

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 _Fluff and mystery ending... maybe gonna add something to it..._


End file.
